What healthy food staples do you use?

PeppermintPatty said:
Oh! I hadn’t even thought of that ! What a fabulous idea. I hope it grows in my zone 6 area . I shall look that up. Another possible herb to add to our growing list. Note: No it does not grow in zone 6. It’s a zone 8 and 9 herb. Boo! Thanks anyway.
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I used Stevia for a while and started having strange and somewhat unpleasant physical sensations in my legs but did not equate them with my use of Stevia. However, I came across a brief comment that someone made on the internet about Stevia causing problems with his legs. After reading this comment, I stopped using Stevia to see if my symptoms would clear up after a few days, and sure enough, they did. So, if you have a similar problem, you'll know what to do.
 

oslooskar said:
I used Stevia for a while and started having strange and somewhat unpleasant physical sensations in my legs but did not equate them with my use of Stevia. However, I came across a brief comment that someone made on the internet about Stevia causing problems with his legs. After reading this comment, I stopped using Stevia to see if my symptoms would clear up after a few days, and sure enough, they did. So, if you have a similar problem, you'll know what to do.
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Really? Thank you! I shall keep this in mind.
 
I stock up on Coffee Mate because l can't drink coffee without it and l love coffee. My favorite is Starbucks Caramel. l stock up on carrot cake. l know it doesn't sound healthy but it's the only way l can gain the weight l lost when l was sick for awhile.
 

Olivia said:
I stock up on Coffee Mate because l can't drink coffee without it and l love coffee. My favorite is Starbucks Caramel. l stock up on carrot cake. l know it doesn't sound healthy but it's the only way l can gain the weight l lost when l was sick for awhile.
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You're a woman after my husband's heart. 😊 He loves Coffee Mate and he can't drink coffee without it. He uses the original powder but at the holidays he likes the peppermint mocha liquid coffee mate.
 
oslooskar said:
I used Stevia for a while and started having strange and somewhat unpleasant physical sensations in my legs but did not equate them with my use of Stevia. However, I came across a brief comment that someone made on the internet about Stevia causing problems with his legs. After reading this comment, I stopped using Stevia to see if my symptoms would clear up after a few days, and sure enough, they did. So, if you have a similar problem, you'll know what to do.
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Was it homegrown Stevia or a powdered version from the store?
 
Healthy staples?
Chia seeds and quinoa which I keep in jars in the fridge.
Like the others, I also keep lentils, dried peas and various canned beans on hand.
Oatmeal and farina, but don't eat them more than 1-2x per week.
Rice is not really that good for my type2-D, so I don't usually keep it.
Stevia packets on hand for coffee; 'healthy' in that it's not sugar.
Canned wild, skip jack tuna is on hand and sometimes wild canned salmon.
Natural almond and peanut butters.
Extra virgin, cold pressed olive oil for light pan saute's and salads, from Spain via Amazon, lately.
In off season, I'll keep a bag or two of frozen fruit in the freezer; usually blueberries.
 
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Murrmurr said:
But if you eat pasta, rice, or potatoes with certain vegetables, you don't have to do that.

There are people in other countries who's daily diet consists mainly of white rice all their lives. Generally, they live long and are resistant to diabetes. How do you explain that?
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Do you have a source for that? Which other vegetables turn potatoes/pasta/rice into a resistant starch? I've only heard that cooling it for about 12 hours does that.
As for Asian countries which consumer rice as a staple, they have also historically NOT BEEN as good at 'holding down our couches' as we are. They walk a lot, work hard with no modern conveniences and they eat a lot of vegetables instead of the large amounts of processed food that many do in the West.
 
hearlady said:
I put the tincture in a dropper bottle and use it mostly in tea. A few drops. You get used to how much to use depending on the strength of the batch.
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It's is a dark green color so if I put it in yogurt I get a lovely green tint. 😊 It still tastes a bit like artificial sweetener so I use it sparingly.
 
Murrmurr said:
But if you eat pasta, rice, or potatoes with certain vegetables, you don't have to do that.

There are people in other countries who's daily diet consists mainly of white rice all their lives. Generally, they live long and are resistant to diabetes. How do you explain that?
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Yes. They eat a lot of vegetables with their starches.

I also think we grow into metabolic disease by eating so much processed foods all our lives. When we get older it becomes very difficult to overcome.
 
hearlady said:
Yes. They eat a lot of vegetables with their starches.

I also think we grow into metabolic disease by eating so much processed foods all our lives. When we get older it becomes very difficult to overcome.
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I think that's truer for 40 and 50-somethings than 65+.

As a single working father, I fed my kids simple, basic meals that were easy to make. Dinner was usually just meat, potatoes, and some veg. We very rarely had fast-food, but we went out for pizza the first Saturday of every month and I used a box of Hamburger Helper once in a while.

My oldest son and my daughter fed their kids well, but my youngest son and his wife let theirs eat way too much crap. Interestingly, their two youngest kids are lazy and unmotivated, and the boy (17) is very overweight and doing poorly in school. I don't think that's a coincidence.

There weren't as many chemical additives in food back in the 80s as there is now, but I think that's the decade when farmers started going full-on with using hormones in their food-animal's feed, and meat-packing plants were dunking chicken parts in anti-bacterial chemicals, pumping cuts of beef with red dye, and plumping up turkey carcasses and pig butts and shoulders with syringes full of what they described as "water".
 
I was also reading that the Asians mostly undercook their rice, after several rinsings before cooking. The pre-rinsing will take out a lot of the starch, you can see it coming out when you rinse. I do several until I see the water run clear.
Apparently, if rice is just a little undercooked, it does not digest and has more of the resistant starch. Also, if you cool the rice leftover and then re-heat it, you will activate more resistant starch, just like happens with cooled pasta as opposed to hot pasta.

They do also add a lot of good greens along with the rice foods, as well as rice vinegar in foods like sushi, and the vinegar also helps with the less digestion of the starches.
 
Happyflowerlady said:
I was also reading that the Asians mostly undercook their rice, after several rinsings before cooking. The pre-rinsing will take out a lot of the starch, you can see it coming out when you rinse. I do several until I see the water run clear.
Apparently, if rice is just a little undercooked, it does not digest and has more of the resistant starch. Also, if you cool the rice leftover and then re-heat it, you will activate more resistant starch, just like happens with cooled pasta as opposed to hot pasta.

They do also add a lot of good greens along with the rice foods, as well as rice vinegar in foods like sushi, and the vinegar also helps with the less digestion of the starches.
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Interesting HFL! I may be enjoying more rice after reading this. I knew about the cooled pasta but good to know this applies to rice as well. Thanks.
 
Murrmurr said:
Mom: "Always have broccoli or brussels sprouts with your rice."
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Maybe she was simply referring to the importance of having greens of some sort with starches which don't have the same nutrient levels. Doesn't mean it has any effect on what type of starch you're eating. There's something about the period of chilling that changes the composition of the starches in rice, potatoes and bread or pasta so that it is less easily digestible in your stomach and so it makes it through to your intestine where all those good bacteria work on it.

You can read all about it here.... What to Know About Resistant Starches
 
RadishRose said:
Interesting HFL! I may be enjoying more rice after reading this. I knew about the cooled pasta but good to know this applies to rice as well. Thanks.
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Just make sure you wash your rice before cooking and drain off excess water because rice has a lot of arsenic in it. Doing that, removes a lot of the arsenic in the rice and then down the drain.

It absorbs arsenic from the soil it grows in and some regions are lower than others. From my notes:

Lowest arsenic: White basmati rice from California, India, Pakistan and sushi rice (cowl rose rice) from California, also look for a name brand Lundgran.
 
Debrah N. said:
Maybe she was simply referring to the importance of having greens of some sort with starches which don't have the same nutrient levels. Doesn't mean it has any effect on what type of starch you're eating. There's something about the period of chilling that changes the composition of the starches in rice, potatoes and bread or pasta so that it is less easily digestible in your stomach and so it makes it through to your intestine where all those good bacteria work on it.

You can read all about it here.... What to Know About Resistant Starches
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I eat rice often, and have done for a very long time. Never had a problem.
 
RadishRose said:
Interesting HFL! I may be enjoying more rice after reading this. I knew about the cooled pasta but good to know this applies to rice as well. Thanks.
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I cook a big batch of brown rice in the instant pot, refrigerate some and freeze several ziplock bags in roughly 1-1/2 cup portions, so it just so happens my rice has almost always been cooled before we eat it.

I do the same with chick peas that will find their way into hummus or tuna salad.
Also quinoa.
 
StarSong said:
I eat sweet potatoes, peels included. Just slice the raw potato into about 1/4" thick rounds, cover and put in the microwave for a few minutes until cooked. I refrigerate the cooked slices and snack on them or add them to salads or stir fries.
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Try cubing sweet potatoes, sprinkle a bit of olive oil, salt, chilli powder - off to the air fryer.
 

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